Saturday, September 1, 2012

Farce, charade, tatemae, facade, or you could call it "democracy" as practiced in most of the western world. The foregone conclusion presented as a choice for people, so that people can delude themselves that they have some say in the state affairs. (See my previous post on nearly 90,000 people sending in their opinions, exercising their democratic right, tatemae or not, and how the statisticians dissed the result.)

(By the way, the statisticians (university professors) were probably hired by the private think-tank Mitsubishi Research Institute to whom the government outsourced the analysis of the public comments.)

Jiji Tsushin article makes it very clear what some people have suspected all along - that the government wants to set "15%" as the policy all along. If I remember right, these people were criticized as "cynical" by the fellow Japanese. What can I say.

The Noda administration has the usual lip service to the (naive) citizens: "Zero nukes in the future". What future?

The national government started the discussion on September 1 over the new national energy policy, which will likely state "[Japan] will aim for zero nuclear power in the future". The "Energy and Environment Conference", made up of the administration's ministers in the related fields, will decide [on the policy] in the early September, and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will announce the new policy. The reliance on nuclear energy in the year 2030 will be 15% or lower, and the government is also considering positioning it as interim target to zero nuclear power. An unnamed government official disclosed [to Jiji Tsushin].

The government has considered all along to set the reliance on the nuclear power in the year 2030 at 15% as the new energy policy. However, as the opinion surveys and focus group surveys in July and August revealed that many people wanted zero nuke plants, the government felt the need to show the attitude of aiming for zero nuke plants. The new policy will be part of the "Innovative Energy and Environmental Stragegy" that will be decided by the "Energy and Environment Conference". It will mark a turning point for the Japan's energy policy which has increased reliance on nuclear energy.

３０年に原発１５％以下の目標を達成するため、１５年から５年ごとに達成の度合いを検証する方針だ。

In order to achieve 15% reliance or less on nuclear power in 2030, the government will check the progress every 5 years starting 2015.

The new policy will also discuss various issues to achieve zero nuclear power, including the final disposal of spent fuel and spread of renewable energy like wind and solar power. The prime minister will use a press conference and other venues to ask for cooperation from every Japanese citizen.

"Innovative Energy and Environmental Stragegy" that will be decided by the "Energy and Environment Conference". Doesn't that sound wonderful, like in former Soviet Union planning?

Renewable energy? There is hardly any renewable energy source to meaningfully contribute to the power grid, but no shortage of energy anywhere in Japan. As to nuclear energy, only two reactors are currently in use (despite jellyfish), and Kansai hasn't had a single blackout. So? What kind of "cooperation" does Mr. Noda want?

If Japan is hurting for money, I suggest that they FIRST slash the money they pay all their Leaders to a minimum wage and then pay these same Leaders a "performance bonus" if they get their economy back on track.

This way if they delay, the Leaders will also share the PAIN and lose almost all their income (and perks like free deluxe medical care) like the nuclear refugees from Fukushima have been suffering for almost a year and a half.

Since the Leadership of Japan created the problems and failed to protect the Japanese People from economic hardship, instead of falling upon their swords, far better for them to experience the loss of face that going poor would bring!

If this "PLAN" is approved, expect to see the economy blossom before the end of the year...

Starting today, (while TEPCO continues to get TRILLIONS of YEN) the 100,000 + Japan's nuclear refugees have to now start paying for their bento boxed food they receive, a year and a half after 3/11/11.

Japan cannot afford another Fukushima but does PM Noda listen to the will of the People, N☢ he does not...

The ONLY way forward is ZERO nuclear NOW! Zero in the future? There will be no future after more meltdowns in Japan. Now remember that most of the reactors on the east coast would have melted down if offsite power had been lost because pumps that cool the backup generators were destroyed. It is now or never for the future of Japan. Everybody has to keep up peaceful pressure to change the future of Japan. This is real folks. Time to take peaceful action. Spread the word. Act now. Do it for the children of today and tomorrow.

I guess they mean 15% as a "long term goal", when all 20th-century-nuclear plant's life extensions have expired.

@ LaPrimavera:

The alleged cobalt-58 finding could be potentially interesting. The dosimeter looks like to have a gamma spectrometry function, which is indeed a good thing to identify the elements causing the radiation field.

Sadly, trying to judge if a relevant contamination could be caused by cobalt-58, I was unable to find the documents released in Japanese by Tepco last year that list the estimated release of about 100 isotopes. Meanwhile Tepco upped their estimates several times, but I never saw a detailed release estimate like the old ones.

If there exists a such updated list of radioavtive isotopes released, I'd be very happy if you could post it. Would be very helpful to help judging plausibility of these many claims of alleged findings of exotic, possibly trace-only isotopes. (Because, one reason for unexpected measurement results could be electromagnetic distortion, which quite some dosimeters are susceptible, like the Soeks.)

From my understanding, we've spent hundreds and thousands of years developing the human genetic code, and in just the past half century we've been damaging it beyond repair in so many ways that everyone is completely oblivious to.

For example, if my understanding is correct, I think it's actually bad for people to have children at a later age. The older they get, the more their genes deteriorate, and so the chance of defective genes and resulting mutations increases. But human society has been pushing people to have children later, or not have children at all.

Couple that with genetic damage caused by modern technology, such as chemicals and electronic equipment... and of course, radiation. We're not seeing the effects immediately, of course. But you can imagine what will eventually happen if our genetic information is constantly degrading. We won't be able to plug the gaps by mating with non-relatives anymore. Vital genetic information will be missing, and it'll eventually lead to the death of our species.

If I could, I'd like to be around to see the good aspects of humanity develop. I don't want to be around to see the human race deevolve into a disgusting mess of deformed mutants. I still find it ironic that we've reached a point where everyone is focusing so much on being perfect, that they're completely oblivious to our society and technology rotting us from the inside out.

I'm sorry to say but I don't believe the 15% number in 18 years that means Japan would have to decommission about half of their reactor fleet in that time. That works out to a little over 1 reactor a year. If you count Fukushima as the first 4 "decommissioned" plants that's leaves about 20 reactors they need to put in SAFSTOR. Keep in mind Fukushima is burning up workers lifetime dose allowances these are the same people needed to decommission facilities too. They are looking at decades of work at Fukushima even with the workers fudging their exposure rates I think Japan is going to be hard pressed just to stay on top of Fukushima.

There is also the cost of clean up I'm sure the nuclear industry isn't going to pay to do much of anything. The taxpayer/ratepayer is going to do most of the heavy lifting. As a matter of fact I wouldn't be surprised if the power companies don't sue the government (and win) for lost income from the closed plants

If this is anything like Japan's version of "cold shutdown" I could see them using "hot/cold standby" as the new definition of decommissioned.

Electric utilities in Japan are one and the same with the government; if you recall, Hamaoka has been closed by PM Kan by just asking Chubu Electric to do so. Power companies will not sue, let alone win.Even in the US, how could electric utilities sue if the NRC raised the bar to safely operate npps to the point that it would be cheaper to close them down?Banks call that regulatory risk and, if there is a political will to change things, things will change.A lot of the personnel working at Fukushima are regular construction workers so I am not sure personnel availability is an issue. Anyways most Japanese citizens want to keep npps shut down and decommissioned for good as soon as possible. Costs can be covered can be covered by cutting utilities dividends: electricity rates in Japan are among the highest in the world so money should not be a problem.

E.ON said the complaint was not about the pull-out from nuclear energy per se, which is largely supported in Germany, but about the lack of compensation for the companies affected by the energy policy U-turn.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2012/06/14/2003535256

Nuclear plant operators — led by Chicago-based Exelon Corp. — have been successfully suing the federal government to recoup costs associated with removing and babysitting spent fuel the government promised would be taken off their hands 13 years ago.

And as arevamirpal::laprimavera points out Japanese power companies have the public by the balls as do most power companies that operate nuclear power reactors. Power companies don't get into the nuclear game unless the government agrees to shield it from a majority of the financial liability. Nuclear power doesn't suffer regulatory risk the temporary suspension of NRC licenses in the US is just that temporary and it has little to do with raising the bar of nuclear safety. It isn't going to be used to examine US nuclear policy it is going to be used to force through a permanent national nuclear waste respiratory. The NRC responded to that recent petition, saying that neither that legal document nor the court ruling would have any immediate effect on waste-related issues because no other licensing requests are pending.

Mitsubishi Electric space system is your gateway to information on our advanced satellite systems and ground programs such as DCME. Find about ...lolo, the other 1/2 of fukushima, the reporter on NHK that covers the space progam's name is even Fukushima

Oh, one more thing: for the moment it is the Japanese public opinion that is holding the utilities by the balls, not the other way around. In case you did nor realize almost all Japanese npps, some 10% of the world's total, are gathering dust since quite some time already.No worries though, you job is secured anyways, if anything else to clean up the nuclear mess.Beppe

Can't cut the dividends? Because of pensions?? Come on... zero out the dividends, offer some form of compensation to pension funds (they are being bailed out already anyways) and let other investors take the losses. Investing into a risky operation is risky and they enjoyed good profits until now: it is about time to get some risk adjusted return.By the way, I would expect the nuclear industry to have factored in the costs of the plant decommissioning already anyways: its only loss comes from the reactors that did not pay back themselves yet, minus those that yielded profits in excess of costs.Beppe

You're right the nuclear industry doesn't need to sue the government Japan gave the nuclear industry a $12.8 billion dollar bailout along with a rate increase without a whimper. The government also took over the problem to further increase the taxpayer's liability.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-utility-gets-12-8b-035943830.html

The public's ball grasping did nothing to stop Ooi's restart or the subversion of a public opinion poll in the name of the silent majority or the sale of contaminated food or the "do it yourselves decontamination days" at local schools and parks. If the public was in charge it would be impossible to sell contaminated foodstuffs to children or force them to decontaminate their schools.

I don't think you understand how big TEPCO is they are the fourth largest power company in the world and the Japanese government invested in them heavily the pension problem makes TEPCO too big to fail and they know it. Like I said power brokers don't invest in nuclear power unless the government gives them specific guarantees and protections not afforded to any other industry.

I know you think I'm a nuclear supporter but I'm not I'm just pointing out the facts.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

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